


Echoed Orbit

by CozyEmblem



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Post S2, Season 2 spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:53:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29412957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CozyEmblem/pseuds/CozyEmblem
Summary: Din has spent three months trying to make peace with his solitude and his responsibilities and has done a terrible job of both. The worst part is that the Jedi and his son continue to cross his path, making it incredibly difficult to move on. Maybe that's because their story isn't finished.
Relationships: Din Djarin & Luke Skywalker, Din Djarin/Luke Skywalker
Comments: 10
Kudos: 56





	1. The Quarry

**Author's Note:**

> I had a lot of feelings at the end of the second season and then I sat down and plotted out a ten chapter story, so! Here we go!

The Universe was vast and Din Djarin was lost. Perhaps that was why he had taken this job on this minuscule desert moon. He had the feeling if he flew up and landed hard enough, the dirt underfoot would simply float up into space, making the moon even smaller. It wasn’t true, the fact that there was breathable air said all it needed to about the gravity, but a week long walk would put him right back where he started if he went straight. Of course the craggy stretches of broken land and the small mountains slung across the horizon kept that truth in the strict hypothetical. And so he walked towards the small town beside his landing zone.

As he had been told, the only lead was the fact that somewhere on this moon someone’s teenage child had run away from home. Normally this wasn’t the kind of job he took, especially not since claiming the darksaber and the galactic responsibilities it entailed. But their parents had been so worried and a pang in his chest reminded him that it had been ninety-three days since he had entrusted Grogu to the care of the Jedi. Not that it had been so long since he had seen him; somehow the Jedi managed always be nearby no matter where he went. Four times he had heard tell of them having just passed through and once he had even seen them in passing. Din wondered if, perhaps, there was some part of his destiny that was simply bound to Grogu, but this was a dangerous kind of wishful thinking and so he never wondered for long if he could help it. Usually he couldn’t.

The desert town had a single building that didn’t look like it was a residence, a large, clay building with four rounded segments, each looking well-formed, but additional. As if each segment was made as the town grew and its citizens needed more and more space. Din walked into the building and saw another reason for the building’s growth; it was a shop as well as a bar and eating area. There were a few people sitting inside to his right and he felt their eyes on him as he walked to the counter where a large Ardennian was using two of her four arms to polish a glass while the other two were crossed across her chest.

“I’d prefer it if you turned back around and left.” She said.

“Believe me, so would I,” Din replied. “I’m looking for someone, a young Rodian.” He turned as someone behind him shouted. A human woman was standing beside her table, looking agitated.

“That little brat tried to steal my swoop bike. Nearly fried the little thief.” Din ignored the bartender/shopkeeper and made his way to the table.

“Do you know where I can find them?”

“Ran into the damn desert. I’d be surprised if they’re still alive,” she shook her head.

“Do you know which way they ran?”

“Yes,” the woman grinned. “Into the desert.”

“Thanks,” Din said as he turned and left. It wasn’t technically useful, but it was a start. He was going to have to do it the hard way, especially since the town was one of the only reasonable places to land across the whole moon.

“When your business is done?” The bartender said. Din stopped in the doorway, turning his head to watch her. “Buzz off.”

“I was planning on it,” Din said as he exited the building. He couldn’t really blame the community for being unwelcoming; people didn’t usually come this far out to a fairly inhospitable world just to make a nice home for themselves. Or, if they did it was because nowhere else would let them do it.

The second he was at the village limits he pressed a few buttons on his control panel and his jetpack propelled him into the sky, the force pulling at his shoulders and hips as the ground grew smaller. He was only in the sky for a few seconds before something slammed into his shoulder, pushing him off course. Drawing his pistol in the air was strange, but his hands knew their business and he fired at a sandhawk the moment it came into sight. At least, he thought it was a sandhawk at first, though upon closer inspection the creature he shot was larger and more reptilian. Not to mention sandhawks were solitary creatures and what he had in front of him was a swarm.

“Great,” he muttered. A blaster shot fired just to the left of his shoulder, nailing one of the not-sandhawks and scrambling the swarm. More blaster fire dispersed them and sent them flapping back whatever way they had come as Din made a smooth descent to find the Ardennian bartender with a blaster pistol in each hand. She was watching him with an amused expression. “Thanks.”

“Thought you were supposed to be a great hunter.”

“Not that kind.”

“Well, at least you know where to find your quarry now. Those were skrrivik. They live in that cave system up there,” she pointed a blaster pistol towards the nearby mountain range, holstering the other three.

“I appreciate the information.”

“You gave me a good show,” she shrugged, bringing the tip of her blaster to her lips and blowing the thin trail of smoke. “Fair value.” She turned without another word and walked away, leaving Din to turn and stare after the mountain. So, he was close.

Scanning the horizon a little closer, he returned to the sky and jetted towards the mountain.

#

Searching the caves in the mountain was far from an easy task. Any footprints or other signs Din tried to check for had been obscured by the winds that swept across and he had entered three separate caves to no good ending. Twice he found more skkrivik, though he found so long as he left the cave itself they were content to end their chase. It was the fourth cave he entered where he found his quarry and far more than he bargained for.

Once he was ten steps into the cave, the light rapidly retreating behind him, he saw the darkness of the cave suddenly illuminated by a bright, green light, a sound like electricity and fire clashing filling his ears.

“Damn.” He hissed, hastening towards the deadly blade and perhaps the most dangerous man in the galaxy. Hastening towards his son.

The saber turned towards him, though, he noted, the Jedi did not point it at him.

“Din,” he said, his voice a soft glove around the iron fist. Din swallowed.

“How do you know my name?”

“Grogu,” the Jedi replied and Din glanced over the man’s shoulder to see his son staring at him.

“Hey, Kid,” his throat tried to close around the words and he cleared it.

“What are you doing here?” The Jedi asked, the green blade glowing ominously between them, casting his soft face in unnatural, though not unbecoming light.

“I have a job to do.”

“And that’s also why you’ve been following us for the last three months?” The Jedi asked and Grogu cooed, staring at his teacher with worry.

“I haven’t been following you.”

“I’ve sensed you.”

“And I’ve sensed you,” Din replied, trying to make his voice even. “I want Grogu’s training to succeed, do you think I’m trying to ruin that?” The Jedi stared at him for a long while before he nodded.

“You’re telling the truth.”

“Your powers tell you that?” The other man’s mouth quirked up in a slight smirk.

“More or less.” Din tried not to make anything out of that smirk.

“Why are you here?”

“Grogu,” The man sighed, the iron melting out of him as he glanced at the young boy on his back. Grogu stared back innocently and Din smiled under his helmet, glad as always that he didn’t have to pretend to have a good pazaak face. “I have been minding his training and trying to ignore everything else, but he insists on helping everyone we come across. You seem to have taught him some terrible lessons.” This last he said with a smile, no longer the Jedi but rather—what the hell was his name?

“Me? I only do the jobs I’m hired to do.”

“Not how Grogu tells it.”

Din could hardly deny that, though it did cloud the way he thought of himself. Then again, that was Grogu’s role in his life from the moment they met.

“So, your laser sword is out because you’re trying to help someone?”

“I was told a dangerous criminal came through here.”

“Did they also tell you that the ‘dangerous criminal’ was a teenage Rodian?”

“No.” The Jedi said and he was about to extinguish his blade, but at the last moment he swung it in a wide arc as a blaster round fired, the bolt deflecting into the side of the cave.

“Damn,” Din raised the wrist that held a grappling hook, but he couldn’t see anyone.

“Deeper in,” the Jedi said before he ran off. Din swore as he followed, watching as the Jedi leapt like the magical acrobat he was, making quick work of the climb that no doubt had taken the quarry ages to scramble up with a series of flips. Din’s stomach twisted as he did a particularly quick spin and, as he used his jetpack to reach the uppermost landing he growled.

“The Kid could’ve fallen out!”

“I wouldn’t have let that happ—” A blaster bolt slammed into Din’s chest and he very nearly tumbled back over the edge of the incline but his back pressed against something solid and he took a step forward. The Jedi had his hand out as if offering help, but he lowered it as Din righted himself. If the Kid got anywhere near as smooth with those powers he was going to have to get used to that feeling somehow. His eyes caught the Rodian at the edge of the cave, sunlight pouring in. They were indeed young, about a foot shorter than the Jedi, let alone Din and the blaster they held trembled as they backed up, shouting something. Din raised his hands, palm out.

“Hey, I’m here to bring you back to your mothers. They’re worried sick.”

“ _They will not want me. I am a criminal now_ ,” they spoke in Rodese.

“You stole a swoop bike and a couple womprats. You’re barely a nuisance.”

“ _I am a criminal!_ ” They raised their blaster and Din sighed. “ _I can no longer be a farmer._ ”

“You made your point, kid. I’m sure they’d listen now.”

“ _I am a big criminal! They sent a Jedi!_ ” Din winced as they stepped back farther, the blaster trembling in their hand. “ _There’s no coming back!_ ” One more step and they disappeared. Din raced towards them but Grogu’s teacher was faster. The quarry had stepped over a steep cliffside. It was a freefall all the way down, but lucky they had a Jedi. At least, that was his thought, but the quarry continued to fall. He snapped his head to see Grogu holding out a hand and his heart fell. Was he trained enough? This wasn’t something they could risk.

“Jedi,” Din said, his voice low. “This isn’t the time for training.”

“He’s got it.”

“He’s been with you for three months!”

“Look,” the Jedi urged and Din glanced over the cliff, hand on his jetpack controls when he saw the Rodian paused a hundred meters off the ground. His heart pounded against his chest and he closed his eyes, reeling for a moment before watching Grogu gently set the Rodian on their feet. He turned, expecting Grogu to be settling in for a nap but he only looked pleased with himself. Din smiled, momentarily forgetting the Jedi’s lapse as he reached out and gently ran his fingers over the warm, wrinkled head.

“Good job, Kid. You’ve come a long way.” Grogu cooed and Din laughed.

“Din,” Luke said and Din glanced back down to see the Rodian begin to run. He grunted.

“Good seeing you, Kid.” He said and he leapt off the cliff.


	2. Forcing the Issue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke decides that continuing to run across Din is not an accident and so he sits him down and they have a long conversation where Luke suggests they simply run away together. Is it platonic? Who can say! Certainly not me, you'll just have to keep watching.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a heavy talking chapter, but hopefully it's fun!

Din was considering spacing his quarry.

“ _And furthermore,_ ” the teen continued after the tenth silence Din had managed to salvage in twenty-four hours. “ _It is best to get your adventuring out when you are young! You should take me with you._ ”

“No.”

“ _You don’t have an argument anymore. I am winning._ ”

“If this was something you could win, maybe. It isn’t. I’m not taking you.”

“ _You need someone to watch your back._ ”

“I wouldn’t trust you to watch my front.”

“ _What?_ ”

“To be a second pair of eyes in the direction I’m already—” he groaned. “It doesn’t matter because you’re not coming with me. You’re going home, then you’re going to talk to your mothers and the three of you are going to work something out or you won’t.” It was probably the fifth time he had said the exact sentiment, maybe even in the same words. He didn’t know anymore. All he knew was the headache inside of his helmet and the one in his cockpit.

“ _Am I that pathetic?_ ” The teen asked and Din shut his eyes.

“What’s your name?”

“ _It only took you—_ ”

“I know, just tell me.”

“ _Cade. Short for Cavalcade._ ”

“ _Cade,_ ” Din tested it on his tongue, using the Rodese word rather than the translation. “Look, you stood against a Jedi and their student, not to mention a Mandalorian. You have something. But right now you need to go home.”

“ _Then I can follow you?_ ”

“Maybe,” Din winced. It was the wrong move and the excited noises the teen made did not help his headache, but he was far too tired.

“ _Where will you go?_ ”

“Not sure yet.” It was the truth.

“ _Well, one day I will find you._ ”

“I don’t doubt it.” Din said, leaning his head back.

“ _Will I need a helmet?_ ” Din groaned.

#

One day later Din sat in yet another cantina in his galaxy tour. He considered leaving, but there was something soothing about the low buzz of conversation that blissfully wasn’t aimed at him. Though, if he waited too long _Cade_ would probably try to find him. He wasn’t planning on leaving the kid without a path to follow if they really wanted, but he needed at least a little peace and quiet to think of whatever his next move was going to be.

A hush fell over the cantina and his senses tingled as he turned, thinking that this was not what he had meant. As his eyes caught the newcomer, however, his heart raced. The Jedi had just walked in with Grogu on his back. He wanted to disappear, but he knew it wasn’t an option. Besides, he wanted to see his son, he just didn’t like the look on the Jedi’s face, a look that said, _just the man I wanted to see._

“Mind if we sit?” The Jedi asked and Din held out a hand palm up.

“Hey Kid,” Din said and Grogu cooed pleasantly. He smiled and he hoped that with the Force or something Grogu might be able to see it or sense it under his helmet.

“Luke,” the Jedi said. Din frowned.

“You renamed the kid?”

“No, _my name_ is Luke.”

“Right,” Din replied, relieved on one hand and confused on the other. “You already know mine.”

“I do,” Luke agreed. Silence fell between them and Din ordered stew for Grogu. “Din, we keep meeting.”

“I’m pretty sure you followed me this time.”

“You’re nervous.”

“I—”

“I can feel it.”

“Ever consider privacy?”

“I can’t control if I feel it or not, it’s pouring out of you like blood in the ocean. What’s wrong?”

“I’m pretty sure you’re about to enlist me in some galaxy wide conflict. That’s what you do, isn’t it? Get yourself into trouble?” Luke gave him a lopsided smirk that Din wished was unbecoming.

“I’d argue that the trouble is there with or without me, but you can say that if you really want. And there’s no trouble I need your help with.”

“Then why follow me?”

“Because I’m stuck. And if the universe keeps throwing us together, well. Maybe there’s a point.”

“I don’t understand.”

“The Force works in mysterious ways and sometimes that makes it incredibly frustrating. A bit one sided, you could say.”

“Go sit on one of those special Jedi rocks and do that light show thing.”

“I’m afraid you misunderstand the purpose of the seeing stone.” Luke smiled, though not unkindly. In fact, his smile was a little too kind, too soft for the man who wielded terrifying space magic.

“What would the Force want with me?”

“I don’t know,” Luke admitted. “Mysterious ways, remember?”

“So, what are you asking me, exactly?”

“I want you to come with us. We’re going to be settling down on a little planet. I’ll tell you where once we find somewhere more private.” Din frowned, considering the offer. He had a dozen questions, which made finding which one to ask particularly difficult.

“I have responsibilities.”

“So do I,” Luke replied. “But I think right now the most important thing is to establish a place for people to gather.”

“And you want me in that place?”

“I think the Force wants it.”

“And what am I meant to do?”

“Why don’t you do the same? How many Mandalorians have you found?”

“Four.”

“And is that enough?”

“No,” Din sighed. It was an enticing proposition, which made him wary. But this was a man he had entrusted with Grogu’s safety. Plus, the kid looked happy enough. And if he did this, well, he wouldn’t have to trust anyone with Grogu’s safety because he would be there, on world. But did he trust himself to do what was necessary? People like _Cade_ would come by and want to be trained, want to join and he would have to be a teacher. Unless Bo-Katan and the others came, but then they were strange Mandalorians who didn’t follow all the teachings. And Boba Fett—impressive though he was—also seemed to hold a strange view of being a Mandalorian. So, if anyone was to teach the next generation it might have to be him.

“Alright,” Din said at last. “I won’t make any promises, but I’ll go with you and give it a shot.”

“Great,” Luke smiled. Grogu cooed and Din glanced at him, grabbing a cloth and gently wiping stew from the corners of his mouth. “We should head out. Would you like to take Grogu?”

“Me?”

“We’re going to the same place, it won’t be too long.”

“Sure,” Din gave a curt nod. “I can do that.”

“Great. I’ll send you coordinates as soon as we’re in orbit.” The Jedi rose from the table and walked off leaving Din and Grogu at the table.

“What did I just get myself into?” Din asked. Grogu cooed happily and Din smiled, picking him up. Whatever it was it couldn’t be too bad so long as his son was with him.

#

The Razorcrest hadn’t exactly been repaired by Bo-Katan, but new metal had been painfully hammered and fitted into a near-perfect replica of the ship. When she had offered, Din had said surely there were others of the same model out there for her to buy, something less expensive than this. She had laughed for a long time before she realized he was serious and—still laughing—explained that they had been decommissioned long ago by people who wanted more modern ships with things like weatherproofing and responsive flight controls. They had spent a long time bickering about the controls until he relented, letting her install modern, responsive engines.

It didn’t fly the same, but after a few weeks he had accepted this as a good thing. It was the difference between waiting for the engines to warm up and being able to go from zero to missile-dodging in half a second. Though he still wasn’t quite clear about why Bo-Katan had done all of this. In truth, he had expected her to challenge him over the darksaber as soon as things had settled down, but for the time being she seemed content to let him wield it. He wondered how long that would last, especially with everything Moff Gideon had said that she refused to deny. But it was pointless worrying about the sun rising, even if that sun was probably intent on getting her sword between your plates.

Grogu cooed behind him and he smiled, reaching into a compartment and handing over the ball of the controller.

“You know, Kid,” He said, watching his son fondly. “You should ask Luke if he can work out some Jedi way of talking for you.”

“Din,” Luke said over the comms, making Din jump. Grogu cooed happily and Din chuckled at himself.

“Yeah, I read you.”

“Sending you coordinates. The planet is called Lissom. How does Beskar do with rainforests?”

“Well,” Din said. “I have a feeling it’s going to get wet.”

“Roger that,” Luke said and Din watched as the X-Wing shot into the sky.

“Hold on, Kid.” Din keyed the launch sequence and they were off to whatever the hell it was he was getting himself into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so NOW we're in the mix of what this story is actually about! Din/Luke, strangers to co-parents to teachers to [redacted], 20k words! (Ideally! Who knows how big words are?)
> 
> I am so excited for this. Also, this chapter was a bit short but that's just how the cookie crumbled y'know? You know how cookies are.

**Author's Note:**

> Do let me know if you had fun! <3
> 
> Oh and I'm not looking for criticism. I'm a writer, this is just for fun on the side.


End file.
